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Hearing at the Federal Constitutional Court (photo from December 2023): How much protection does the court need?
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
The appeal came from the highest level: The Federal Constitutional Court must be made "weatherproof" in order to "protect it from possible attacks on its independence," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier recently.
The Federal President fears that the rise of extremist parties could endanger the independence of Germany's highest court.
The traffic light coalition shares this concern and is considering changing the constitution.
However, this requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag and Bundesrat - and thus the support of the Union.
They canceled a first round of talks on the topic, and CDU leader and opposition leader Friedrich Merz said afterwards that there were currently no serious attacks on the Constitutional Court.
Merz recently signaled his openness to negotiations with the traffic light again, and now, according to SPIEGEL information, this change of heart will lead to renewed talks: As the "Rheinische Post" first reported, there could be a round between representatives of the Union and the Federal Justice Minister as early as this week Marco Buschmann from the FDP.
The deputy parliamentary group leader Andrea Lindholz (CSU) is responsible for the discussions in the Union.
Discussions with representatives of the traffic light factions could follow.
The "Rheinische Post" quoted the parliamentary managing director of the Union faction, Patrick Schnieder (CDU), as saying: "In our opinion, we should talk to each other and explore what makes sense and what works." Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD welcomes the willingness to talk the Union.
"It's good that Friedrich Merz is now using common sense and seeking talks with the traffic light factions," said parliamentary group vice-president Dirk Wiese to the newspaper.
Merz demands an open-ended discussion
The CDU and CSU were exposed to harsh criticism because they broke off the first talks on the topic without producing any results.
At the beginning of March, parliamentary group leader Merz announced that the Union was definitely open to a discussion.
However, the traffic light must make suggestions that would actually increase the protection of the court.
Merz also called for an open-ended debate on the question of whether a constitutional change was necessary - and complained about indiscretions by the SPD parliamentary group.
The background to the debate is the increased approval ratings for the AfD.
The fear is that if the largely right-wing extremist party were to get into the position of influencing the court, it would be too late for effective protection.
That is why there is the idea of enshrining details on the election and term of office of constitutional judges in the Basic Law.
This could, for example, prevent judges from being removed from office relatively easily or the structures of the court being changed in the event of a change of government.
flo/ulz